(l-r) Soc. Security investigator Keith Schilb and Special Agent in Charge Troy Turk are sworn in at a Mo. Senate Appropriations hearing on May 1st, 2013.

Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio

The federal investigator who requested Missouri’s list of conceal carry weapons holders testified under oath Wednesday before a State Senate committee.

Keith Schilb of the Social Security Administration's Inspector General's office told the Senate Appropriations Committee that part of his job is to seek and develop projects that could indicate whether there is enough evidence of fraud to warrant an investigation. He says that’s how the inquiry into Missouri’s conceal carry database began.

"On November 17th, 2011, I requested by email a complete list of Missouri conceal carry permit holders," Schilb said. "The disc I received was incompatible with our systems and was not used, and was destroyed."

Schilb says he requested a second disc a year later, but that he was unable to view the data because of an incorrect password. He said that disc was destroyed as well and that he never shared the data with any other federal office. Committee chairman Kurt Schaefer (R, Columbia) remains unconvinced – he said afterwards that it still looks to him like "an intelligence-gathering operation."

Schaefer has zeroed out portions of the Department of Revenue’s state budget for next year, citing lack of cooperation on the release of the conceal carry list and on earlier refusals to cease copying source documents of driver’s license and conceal carry applicants.